A Casual Date
by OkayDokey33
Summary: After many failed dates and relationships, Yang decides that it's time for a change and decides to ask Ren to be that change, at least for one date. Ren, eager to learn more about himself and to experience his first date with someone he is familiar with, accepts. Though it starts out as a casual date between friends, could it end up being a romantic one? Sunflowyr one-shot.
"What?!" Ruby cried out in surprise as she leaned over the edge of her bunk, so much so that she accidentally fell off of it and fell towards the ground, which she quickly recovered from in order to engage the very person who had caused her to be so surprised in the first place. "Nuh uh! No way! I don't believe it! I simply cannot believe it!"

Weiss curiously tilted her head to the side as she aimed an equally curious and somewhat irritated look at Team RWBY's official leader. "Um… and what exactly about this is so unbelievable?" she asked.

After having recovered a bit from her initial shock, Ruby turned to her rich and snobby teammate and answered, "Look, it's not like I don't think Ren's a nice guy and all, but compared to every other boyfriend Yang's ever had, there's no chance in Vale that Ren asked my sister out on a date and she'd accept! There's just no way!"

"She's got a point," Blake calmly and coolly pointed out. "Out of all of the boys in school, I'd never imagine somebody like Ren to be your type."

"Okay, one," Yang said, raising up her index finger in order to help demonstrate how this whole situation wasn't as farfetched as it would initially sound, "Ren didn't ask me out, I asked him; and two, yeah, normally Ren wouldn't be my type, but I figured that after so many failed relationships with guys who I thought were 'my type', I thought I'd try something new for a change."

Weiss, Blake, and Ruby exchanged uncomfortable looks with each other before Ruby awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck and asked, "Um, and Ren's okay with being a… a… a…."

"A guinea pig?" Weiss finished accusingly, folding her arms crossly as she aimed an accusatory glare in Yang's direction.

Yang chuckled awkwardly. "Well," she said as she began to play with her hair and avert her eyes to the side, "that's certainly one way of looking at it."

"Then how exactly would you look at it?" Weiss asked, not giving her teammate much room to breathe as she secretly feared the worst for her teammate and ally.

Yang looked up as she held her chin and contemplated over what answer to give her concerned teammates. "Well… I'd call it a… introspection exercise."

"That's a stretch," Blake quickly pointed out.

"But it's true!" Yang argued. She let out a weary sigh before explaining, "Look, I want to find love, we all do, but after having so many relationships that turned out to be busts in the end, I just started to wonder if I really knew what I wanted or not; so when I asked Ren out and explained the situation to him, he understood and admitted that he'd like to know more about himself too, so we settled on a date and we agreed that if we ended up liking each other at the end of it, then cool, but if we didn't, then there'd be no hard feelings. That's it. We're just two people who are going to go out on a date. That's all."

Her three teammates once again exchanged confused and uncomfortable looks with each other. "That's a… pretty casual date you two are going on," Blake replied.

Yang chuckled. "Yeah, my first one too! Should be refreshing, don't you think?"

Weiss rolled her eyes before averting them to the side and saying, with a small, embarrassed blush on her face, "Well, I've never been on a date before, so it's not like I would know."

"Ayeeeeee," Ruby said as she offered her hand up for Weiss to high-five, only for her to hang her head and shake it out of disappointment when Weiss left her hanging. "Aw." She then rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly and said, "Well, as long as Ren's in on it, then I guess it's okay… I think." Ruby took a moment to think the entire situation over in her head. "He DOES understand what's going on, right?"

Yang gave her little sister a small, cheerful, and reassuring nod. "Of course! I mean, Ren's as smart as he is good-looking, right? Why wouldn't he?"

* * *

"Get out!" Jaune cried out in surprise. "You actually scored a date with Yang Xiao Long?"

Lie Ren took a moment to think of the best and most accurate answer he could give Team JNPR's official leader. "Well, considering the fact that Yang asked me, I can't exactly take credit for that particular claim… but, I suppose in layman's terms, yes, I did, in fact, 'score'," he held up his index and ring fingers and bent them to signify the metaphorical quotation marks, "a date with Yang Xiao Long."

Jaune couldn't help but stare in awe at his friend for achieving what many considered a near impossible feat. "You are now officially my new hero," he whispered.

Ren gave Jaune a confused look. "Um… thanks."

Pyrrha let out an amused chuckle as she shook her head and placed one of her hands on Ren's shoulders and gave it a firm, proud, and reassuring squeeze. "You know, despite Jaune's…," the two glanced at Jaune for a moment to find that Jaune was still a bit too mesmerized by Ren's supposed "accomplishment", "um… overzealous praise, you really should be proud of yourself Ren. As much as a team should work on their cohesion and teamwork, it is also important for each of its individual members to broaden their horizons a little bit."

Ren smiled. "Those were my thoughts exactly, Pyrrha."

Upon hearing this, Jaune quickly snapped out of his awestruck behavior by shaking his head rapidly and giving Ren a surprised look. "Um… wait… what?"

Pyrrha let go of Ren's shoulder as Ren turned to Jaune and nodded affirmatively. "It is just as Pyrrha said," Ren calmly explained. "After Yang offered me the chance to go out on a date with her and she explained that she wanted to broaden her horizons, I realized that she had the right idea. It's not only important for hunters and huntresses to train their body, but their mind and soul as well; so I took Yang up on her offer and we've agreed that if we developed romantic feelings for each other by the end of it, we'd continue dating, and if we didn't, we wouldn't." When none of his teammates immediately said anything in response, and instead gave each other confused and concerned looks, Ren added, "It's a very straightforward proposal once you really think about it."

"W-Well, yes, we understand, it's just…." Pyrrha said, struggling to find the right words to properly convey her concerns.

Ren turned to her with a confused look on his face. "It's just… what?"

"It's just," Jaune said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as his mind raced frantically to find the right words, "dates like the one you two are going to go on, they aren't exactly, well, as casual as you two are making it out to be, you know? I mean… are you even the slightest bit interested in her? Like, at all?"

"Of course I am," Ren answered matter-of-factly. "Yang Xiao Long is an exceptional huntress who is at peak physical form. And her semblance is certainly one to be feared -"

"U-Um, Ren?" Pyrrha kindly and gently interrupted. "I think what Jaune means to ask is, 'Do you have any possible romantic feelings for Yang?'."

Ren raised his eyebrows in surprise and sudden realization. "Oh! Well, certainly. Why would anyone agree to a meeting such as this without having at least SOME sort of romantic feelings for the other?"

"Well, no offense, but you haven't exactly shown any real interest in her in that way since you guys first met," Jaune pointed out.

"That was because I was focusing on actual schoolwork," Ren explained with a frown.

"Which you two seriously need to make an effort to catch up on," Pyrrha gently interjected, looking at both Jaune and Nora expectantly.

"But other than that," Ren continued, "I DO consider Yang to be attractive. And besides," he nonchalantly gestured towards Nora, who had been uncharacteristically silent throughout the entire conversation, "she and Nora are very similar in terms of personality, so even if we weren't familiar with each other on a platonic level, we have that going for us."

"W-Wait," Nora said, giving Ren a strange and suspicious look along with Jaune and Pyrrha. "So let me get this straight. You're dating Yang… because she reminds you of me?"

"Yes," Ren answered matter-of-factly. After realizing that all three of his teammates were giving him funny and suspicious looks, he innocently shrugged his shoulders and asked, "Why, is that weird?"

"Not gonna lie Ren, yeah, it kind of is," Jaune said.

Ren tilted his head innocently to the side. "Um… okay. Why?"

"Well, Ren," Pyrrha began to explain, "usually, when someone already has the characteristics one is looking for in a romantic partner -"

"Pyrrha, don't make this any weirder than it already is," Jaune quickly interjected.

Pyrrha winced. "Sorry." She turned back to Ren. "When one finds someone with the specific qualities they desire in a date, usually they ask that specific person on the date, not someone else who has similar traits."

"Yeah, I know, right?" Nora said, slowly returning to her usual loud and bubbly self. She snickered a bit. "I mean, if Yang reminds you so much of me, then you might as well be asking me out on the date, right?" Her eyes then widened out of shock before she raised her hands up and waved them around as she shook her head and quickly added, "N-Not that I want you to, obviously! I mean, yeah, we've always been together, but we're not together-together, right?" She then let out an awkward and loud laugh as Jaune and Pyrrha wearily shook their heads.

Much to everyone's surprise, Ren smiled and nodded his head. "Precisely, which is why Yang is, on paper, the perfect candidate for a first date."

His three teammates looked at each other in confusion for a moment before Jaune tilted his head to the side out of curiosity and said, "Um, an explanation would be very much appreciated right about now."

"Ah," Ren said. "Well, some studies show that a popular reason for why some people get married is because that someone else reminds them of a family member, like a parent. But since neither Nora nor I have families of our own, we instead have each other. So, when it comes to finding a date, it would only be natural that I would be attracted to women who remind me of her and vice versa."

"Hmm," Pyrrha said as she held her chin and took a moment to consider Ren's logic over the whole situation. "Well, I guess familiarity WOULD play a big role in finding a significant other."

"Exactly."

"But Ren," Pyrrha said. "Don't you think that you're approaching this a bit too logically?"

Ren frowned. "Hmm?"

"I mean," Pyrrha tried to explain, "love is… well, love." She gave Ren a somewhat motherly smile, as if she were a mother patiently teaching a child an important lesson that the child had innocently been unable to grasp. "Do you understand?"

Ren took a moment to properly consider what Pyrrha had said before giving her a slow and understanding nod. "Of course," he answered. "But it's just like I said, this date is mostly just a chance to get to know ourselves better and to strengthen our mental and emotional fortitude."

"No offense, but I'm not sure a date is the right time or place to 'strengthen mental and emotional fortitude'," Jaune muttered.

"Well, we're certainly going to try," Ren wearily countered. "And besides," he turned back to Pyrrha, "Yang Xiao Long is certainly someone with whom I can admire. I wouldn't mind being in a relationship with someone like her, it we both felt that it came to that, that is."

Pyrrha took a moment to look over Ren and examine how genuine Ren's words were before giving him a relenting smile and saying, "Well, okay then. I must admit, I still don't fully understand what you two are trying to do here, but for now," she gave Ren a cheerful nod, "you two certainly have my blessing."

Nora snickered. "Oh, come on Pyrrha," she said, rolling her eyes at Pyrrha's behavior. "What are you, his mother?"

Pyrrha let out a good-natured chuckle. "No, but if anyone in this room is, it's you." This earned a surprise gasp from the red-headed powerhouse. "Don't you wish to give Ren and Yang your blessing before it's too late?" Pyrrha asked, placing a bit of emphasis on the last part.

Nora's eyes darted awkwardly towards the side for a moment before giving Pyrrha an incredulous, stifled laugh, eye roll, and hand wave. "Oh, come on Pyrrha! Ren's a big boy now! He doesn't need my permission for anything! Not unless we were together-together or something… which we're not!"

"You know, the more you say that, the less I believe you," Jaune casually remarked, which earned him a hard elbow to the gut from Nora.

"Well believe it, mister!" Nora cried.

Jaune clutched his side painfully before nodding his head and whimpering out a, "Yes, sir! Understood, sir!"

Nora let out a hearty laugh before placing her hands on her hips, turning to Ren, and saying, "Ren?"

Ren raised an eyebrow in surprise before asking, "Yes, Nora?"

Nora gave him a confident and reassuring wink. "Go rock Yang's world."

Ren simply blinked back in confusion. "Um… and how exactly do I do that?"

Nora let out an exasperated, but still somewhat amused sigh. "This guy," she said, pointing at Ren with her thumb, "am I right?"

* * *

"There you are!" Yang cried once she spotted her date and his friends slowly approaching her and her group of friends. She gave her date an amused smirk. "What took you? I was wondering 'Ren' you were gonna show." She then gave Ren a goofy grin. "Eh? Eh?"

Ren simply smiled and nodded in response. "Sorry about that. I had to explain the situation to my team." He then gestured towards his teammates behind him and added, "They couldn't really seem to grasp the concept of our casual date."

Yang nodded her head understandingly. "Yeah, same here. And speaking of dates," she grabbed Ren's arm, earning her a surprised gasp from said hunter, and roughly led him away from their teammates and towards the city of Vale, "come on, tiger. You promised me a date and I'm going to hold you to that."

After recovering from his initial shock, Ren quickly recomposed himself, calmly adjusted to Yang's pace, and nodded, "Of course." He then reclaimed possession of his own arm, straightened the creases Yang had inadvertently made in it, placed his hands behind his back as he usually did, and asked, "So, as I am led to believe, it is the duty of the male to show the female a 'good time', as some would say?"

Yang gave Ren an amused grin. The hunter had warned her beforehand that this would be his first official date, so she had mentally prepared herself for any obvious signs of inexperience, naivete, stiffness, and awkwardness. She nonchalantly shrugged. "Yeah, I guess some people would say that."

Ren nodded his head solemnly. "I see. Well then, in that case, how about we do whatever you want to do once we enter the city of Vale?"

Yang gave Ren an amused smirk and chuckle. "So what? I take the lead and you follow?"

Ren nodded. "Yes. Since I am unaware of most of your interests and since I want to show my date a good time, isn't that the most sensible and considerate thing to do in this situation?"

Yang thought about it for a moment. "Well, I mean, yeah, but guys are sort of expected to take the lead on dates, you know?" She leaned in towards the green hunter and gave him an alluring wink. "It shows that they can take control of a situation if they ever need to, if you know what I'm saying," she explained, saying the last part of her sentence in a singsong tone of voice.

Unfortunately for her, her attempts to flirt and tease her date went right over Ren's head as he took a moment to let what Yang said to him sink in before nodding his head understandingly and replying, "I see." He then nonchalantly turned to Yang. "Well then, seeing as how our date was scheduled prematurely, how about we continue on our way to Vale and we'll figure out our next course of action from there?" he suggested.

Yang blinked in confusion for a moment before realizing that her flirtations had had no effect on Ren whatsoever, awkwardly acting as if nothing strange had just happened, and awkwardly replying, "Yeah, sure… sounds like a plan."

Meanwhile, their teammates continued to watch them until they eventually faded away from view. They all exchanged worried and concerned glances at each other before Jaune awkwardly cleared his throat and asked, "Um, they're going to be alright, aren't they?"

"Hmph," Weiss said, crossing her arms and shaking her head at the thought of the admittedly mix-matched couple. "Who knows?"

"Aw, Ren can take care of himself," Nora said, waving down her friends' apprehension as if it were nothing.

"Yeah, but he's never had to take Yang on a date before," Ruby sheepishly pointed out. Everyone nodded their heads in solemn agreement.

"Oh, listen to us!" Pyrrha reprimanded. "Come on! It's just one date! Let's have a little bit more faith in our comrades!" She looked around to see if anyone would rally behind her, and was admittedly disappointed when no one did. "Are dates really this tense and unpredictable?" she asked no one in particular.

Blake simply shrugged her shoulders coolly and replied, "I wouldn't know. I don't read romantic comedies."

* * *

"Hmm," Ren said as he stared intently at a shop that apparently wasn't going to be opened anytime soon. "Tukson's Book Trade: Home to very book under the sun," he read. He shook his head out of disappointment. "It's a shame. The world could always use another bookstore."

"I know, right?" Yang asked, her eyes following Ren's towards the apparently abandoned bookstore. "I mean, digital books are and all, but nothing beats having a physical copy of a book in your hands to read."

"Oh?" Ren asked with one of his eyebrows raised in surprise upon hearing what Yang had just said. "I never took you for the reading type."

"Hey," Yang said, giving Ren a playful punch on the arm, "I do my fair share. And besides, who else was going to read Ruby bedtime stories when we were kids?"

"Well, I would assume your parents, but yes, big sisters fit into such a quota as well, I suppose."

Yang gave Ren an uncharacteristically sad chuckle before flashing him a small smile and saying, "Yeah, we do," before muttering a, "even though it really should be the parent's responsibility and all…."

Ren's eyes widened in mild surprise. "Hmm?"

Realizing that she had brought up something a tad bit too sensitive for a casual, first date, Yang gasped, let out an awkward chuckle, flash Ren a goofy grin, pointed towards the city's newly opened arcade, and cried, "Hey, there's that new arcade I've been hearing so much about!" She grabbed Ren's arm and led him roughly towards the newly made attraction. "Come on! :et's go see what type of games they've got!"

"Um, alright, if you insist," Ren said.

Upon entering the arcade, Yang excitedly surveyed its assortment of retro and current games. Yang let out a low and impressed whistle. "Wow. They've got a pretty impressive collection of games here, don't they?"

"Um, yes," Ren replied, eyeing each and every game that he and Yang passed by with a nervous glance. "I guess they have."

Yang abruptly stopped before turning herself around and giving Ren an amused look. "Let me guess, you don't have a clue what these games are, do you?" she asked knowingly.

Ren let out an awkward chuckle. "Sorry. Nora and I never really had the opportunity to be properly exposed to these types of games."

"Well, you are a hunter," Yang reasoned. "So learning how to play at least one of these games shouldn't be too hard." She looked around the arcade before her eyes were set on one game in particular. "Ah." She pointed towards the game that had caught her attention, which Ren's eyes followed curiously. "There's a game I think you wouldn't have too much trouble learning."

The two Beacon students walked up to said game, Ren eyeing the game suspiciously as they did. "What type of game is this?" he asked.

"It's a dance game," Yang explained. She pointed up towards the screen. "You just follow the directions the game gives you and whoever does it the best wins."

Ren nodded his head understandingly. "I see," he said.

She gave Ren a challenging and arrogant smirk as she gave him a playful nudge with her elbow. "So, what do you say? Wanna go a round?"

Ren gave her an amused look of his own. "Against you?"

Yang gave him a somewhat sultry look with her eyes. "What's the matter, flower boy?" she asked. "Afraid of a little challenge?"

The look on Ren's face suggested that he was only getting more and more amused by Yang's sudden and unexpected challenge. "Have you never seen me dance before?" he humorously asked.

"Hmm, that depends," Yang said. She stepped onto the dancing game and asked, "Have you ever seen me lose before?"

Ren slowly followed suit. "Well, there was that one time when you lost to Jaune at that card game -"

"That time doesn't count!" Yang said a bit too quickly and bitterly than she would've liked to admit. "He just caught me off guard, that's all!" she insisted.

"Of course he did," Ren replied. He then entered the appropriate number of coins into the machine before quickly adding, "And you're not exactly known for your foot work -"

"Ohhhh," Yang said, raising her fist up at Ren and shaking it at him. "I am so going to make you eat those words!"

"Ready?" the machine asked, before initiating a countdown until it hit zero and crying out a, "Start!" The game had officially begun.

At first, both hunter and huntress were doing exceptionally well, but after a while, it became apparent that Yang's negligence towards her footwork and lack of any actual dancing experience were slowly beginning to catch up with her, as she found that following the game's directions were slowly starting to get harder and harder as time went on. "Oh well," Yang thought as she looked at Ren from the corner of her eye, who looked just as tired, though noticeably doing much better than her. "Think about what you can do, not what you can't."

Yang let out a noticeably suggestive moan as she nonchalantly fanned herself from all of the sweat she had accumulated from dancing. "Woo! Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?"

Ren glanced at her from the corner of his eye, but otherwise was unaffected by the buxom blonde's suddenly attempt to take advantage of her well-endowed features. "It's probably just you," he said.

A bit surprised and angry that her distraction hadn't slowed Ren down in the slightest, Yang, as best as she could, suggestively took off her jacket and placed it against the machine's safety rail. "Woo! Sorry, but if I'm going to keep playing, then I'm going to have to take my jacket off! It is just way too hot in here for a poor, girl like me to handle!"

Ren eyed Yang suspiciously from the corner of his eye. Yes, she had indeed taken off her jacket just as she said she would, but he couldn't help but wonder why she did. Maybe it was the fact that he was a more experienced and better trained dancer than she was, maybe it wasn't, but considering the fact that he was currently wearing more clothes than she was right now, even with her jacket on, he couldn't understand why someone as rowdy as Yang would so easily and so suddenly take off her jacket, especially when the inside of the arcade was surprisingly cool, all things considered.

Unfortunately for Ren, focusing so much attention on why Yang would take of her jacket inadvertently caused him to lose his footing, causing him to lose points, and fast. Yang inwardly cheered and smirked as she saw that her attempt to distract Ren was ultimately a success. "Aw, what's the matter big guy?" she began to taunt. "Did you lose your footing?" she asked innocently.

Much to Yang's amusement and Ren's annoyance, Ren was unable to recover from the first couple of missteps, causing him to miss practically every step after it, causing him to lose the match. The game congratulated Yang for a successful win, awarded her with her tickets, thanked both players for playing, and temporarily shut itself down before resetting itself, awaiting its next two players. Yang traded her tickets in for a toy for Zwei before giving a somewhat bitter Ren an innocent grin and saying, "Aw, don't feel too bad. Everyone has a bad day sometimes."

"You cheated," Ren stated simply.

Yang let out a faux-surprised gasp. "I did no such thing!"

"Well, you did," Ren calmly insisted.

"Oh please, don't be silly," Yang said. "How could me possibly taking off my jacket be cheating?"

"It wasn't the fact that you took off your jacket," Ren explained. "What matters is the fact that you nonsensically took it off when, in reality, someone of your caliber shouldn't have taken it off for reasons as ludicrous and as trivial as the one you gave!"

Yang gave Ren an incredulous look before muttered, "You're kidding, right?"

"Why would I be kidding?!" Ren uncharacteristically cried out as the two walked out of the arcade.

For a long time, Yang didn't say anything. She could only stare in shock and awe at just how unaffected Ren seemed to be by her sex-appeal. Sure, Ren could be a bit dense, but she would've never imagined that he could be THIS dense. She then couldn't help but release a hearty laugh at the unassuming member of Team JNPR, before mustering up a, "Ren, you're a really interesting guy, you know that?"

Ren raised an eyebrow in surprise at how unexpected Yang's response had been to his own response to her cheating and dirty tactics. "Hmm? I am?"

* * *

"Here we are," Ren said as he carried the snack to his and his date's table. "An extra-large ice cream sundae for two." He gently placed the extravagant dessert down before taking his seat and handing Yang her plastic eating utensil. "Normally, I would advise against eating ice cream in favor of non-fat yogurt in order to avoid gaining too much fat and calories, but as this is a special occasion, I suppose that I could make an exception just this once."

Yang simply rolled her eyes and shook her head with a somewhat amused look on her face due to imagining how humorous it would've been if Ren had ever uttered such a sentence in front of the weak-willed Jaune Arc and incredibly hyper Nora Valkyrie. "Aw, how considerate of you," she good-naturedly teased.

Ren grinned knowingly. "You're not a big fan of an extremely disciplined and controlled diet either, are you?"

Yang chuckled before stabbing her plastic spoon into the sundae, fitting as much of it onto her spoon as possible, and nonchalantly shaking her head. "Not really," she answered. She stuffed her scoop of ice cream into her mouth and chewed for a moment before adding, "I mean, I get what it's supposed to do and all," she gulped, "but I've always personally felt that they never really work." She placed another scoop of ice cream into her mouth. "Just don't eat too much junk and stay active, you know?"

Ren took a moment to consider Yang's opinion on the matter before nodding his head understandingly and eating a scoop of their sundae himself. "I guess I can see the logic in that." He casually gulped the said scoop down. "But if it makes any difference to you, the specially made juice I concocted for my team has definitely lead to positive results. If you'd like, I would be happy to create a batch for you and your team to try out for yourself."

Yang visibly cringed. "That depends," she said. She picked at their sundae for a bit before asking, "What's in it?"

"Oh, herbs, vegetables, algae; you know, the bare essentials," Ren explained.

Yang stuck out her tongue in disgust. "Bleh. No way. Count me and my team out. There's no way any of us are going to drink something like that."

Ren simply shrugged. "Your loss."

"Feels more like a win from where I'm standing," Yang muttered under her breath. "But still," she smiled at Ren, "that's really sweet of you to look after your team like that, even if it is forcing a terrible drink down their throats."

Ren gave Yang a small, appreciative bow. "Thank you, but," he shook his head, "in all honesty, it's not at all as altruistic as it may seem."

Yang frowned. "Really? Why's that?" she asked, the concern evident in her voice.

Ren sighed before looking up into the sky for a moment and explaining, "It's just that, Nora and I HAVE to be hunters and huntresses, you know? If we fail, then we'd have nowhere else to go, and with Nora being such a powerful combatant, Pyrrha being… well, Pyrrha, and Jaune turning out to be a surprisingly effective tactician, I've got to pull my weight around." He turned back to Yang. "Does… does that make sense?"

Yang nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, it does," she answered softly. "But come on! Even if you're not as strong as Pyrrha and Nora, and even if you're not as effective of a leader as Jaune, aren't you, like, some kind of ninja or something?"

"Yes… a ninja that can't take a hit," Ren gently, though dejectedly, pointed out.

"But still a ninja," Yang playfully countered.

Ren considered Yang's argument for a moment before letting out an amused chuckle and giving Yang a small, but grateful, grin. "Sure. I suppose a ninja is still a ninja, no matter how frail his physical body structure is."

They both took a couple more scoops of ice cream before Yang held up her spoon and said, "You know, in all honesty, I always just thought that you were a little bit unlucky on the battlefield." She gulped. "Like, you're super skilled, but you keep getting these bad breaks, like getting hit a certain way at the worst possible moments, you know?"

Ren bowed his head bashfully as he let out an equally bashful chuckle. "Really?" he asked somewhat incredulously.

Yang nodded. "Yeah! And the reason why you don't stick out so much is because you don't want the attention, you know?"

Ren couldn't help but let out an incredulous, but still somewhat grateful, laugh. "Well, I do suppose you're half right." He gave Yang a small smile. "Thank you… for thinking so highly of me, that is. Your assumptions of me may be wrong, but they ARE flattering."

Yang cheekily grinned before taking another bite of their ice cream sundae, playfully twirling her spoon at Ren, and saying, "What can I say? You're hot enough to make it work."

Ren visibly leaned back after receiving the unexpected compliment. "You… think I'm hot?"

"Oh, come on!" Yang cried, pointing her spoon at Ren accusingly. "I know for a FACT that Nora has admitted to finding you handsome! Is it really so hard to believe that other people feel the same way?"

Ren simply shrugged. "A bit," he admitted. "No one has really told me that they found me attractive before; and I guess I'm just so used to Nora mentioning how handsome she thought I was that I never really took her compliments too seriously anymore."

"Well, you are," Yang said in a singsong tone of voice. She chuckled before adding, "In fact, I hear that the only reason why no one's ever really asked you out on a date before was because you didn't seem like the type who was looking for a date."

"Well, they're not wrong," Ren admitted. He then let out an amused chuckle. "It's ironic, isn't it? Someone like me, who normally wouldn't go out looking for a date, somehow managed to score a date with someone who is infamous for being impossible to please on one."

Yang gave Ren a playfully animated shrug. "What can I say? With me, it's go big or go home."

Ren raised an eyebrow in both amusement and surprise. "Really? Then I suppose it's safe to assume that this has been the worst date you've ever been on then?"

Yang took a moment to think it over. "Actually, this date hasn't been so bad."

Ren once again raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Really?"

Yang nodded. "Really! I mean, yeah, sure," she gave Ren an acknowledging nod, "I've given you a bit more leeway than I would normally give my other dates, but considering the fact that I asked you and this isn't really a normal date to begin with, plus the fact that this is apparently your first date ever," she gave Ren a playful punch on the arm, "I'll let it slide." She went back to picking at their sundae with her spoon. "And besides, when you take all of that out of the equation, I had fun today."

Much to Ren's own surprise, his heart fluttered a bit upon hearing that. "Really?"

Yang nodded. "Yeah. You're different, but in a good way. And besides," she playfully pressed one of her index fingers against Ren's nose, which Ren let push his head back a bit, "there's definitely more to you than meets the eye, which is more than what I can say for most of my dates."

Ren blushed a bit and took a moment to recompose himself before saying, "And the same can be said for you, Yang Xiao Long."

"Oh, using my full name. Classy."

Ren gave her an amused smirk. "Classy or not, I meant every word of it. I may be inexperienced when it comes to first dates, but I can definitely say that I've had a fun and insightful time with you today."

Yang smiled. "Well if that's true, then I guess you can say that we've both had a fairly productive afternoon."

Ren nodded. "Agreed." He hesitated for a moment. "Then I guess there's only one thing left to do before we're done for today." He turned solemnly towards Yang and asked, "Did you… enjoy our time together enough that you would be willing to do it again?"

Yang grinned. "As friends? Definitely!"

Ren gulped nervously before blushing and sheepishly asking, "And… romantically?"

Yang let out a tiny gasp of surprise and simply stared at Ren in shock for a moment before shifting awkwardly in her seat, placing her spoon down, averting her eyes, playing with her hair, and saying, "O-Oh. I… I didn't think you liked me that way."

Ren turned away from Yang and hung his head out of embarrassment. "I didn't either, but… I've realized just now that you are a very one-of-a-kind woman… a woman that I wouldn't mind getting to know better and… spend the rest of my life with."

Yang blushed even harder as she quickly looked back at Ren and let out a surprised yelp, her eyes widening to the size of dinner plates due to the amount of shock she was feeling at the moment. "W-Whoa, whoa there! Y-You're not talking about marriage, are you?" She held up her hands and waved them in an attempt to convey to Ren that he needed to take a serious step back. "Because if you are, well, then I think you need to slow down a little bit!"

"O-Of course!" Ren cried, embarrassed that Yang would even consider the fact that he was being so irrational that he would contemplate getting married in their teenage years. "But isn't that the point of dating and being in a relationship?! To see if you are willing to spend the rest of your life with someone?!" He then hung his head again out of embarrassment and more quietly explained, "I'm… I'm just saying that… I'm seriously considering you as a potential life partner and that I'm willing to explore that possibility with you, t-that's all." He then courageously looked back at the shocked Yang and timidly asked, "A-Are you willing to explore that possibility with me?"

Yang let out a small gasp of surprise from Ren's rare and seemingly genuine showing of pure emotion and vulnerability before averting her eyes away from Ren's gaze and playing with her hair as she thought long and hard about Ren's proposal. In all honesty, a part of her had seriously doubted that their date would end with either of them developing serious feelings for the other, but now that Ren had and admitted to doing just that, she realized that she suddenly had to seriously think about what her opinion of Ren was, which sucked, because, in all honesty, Yang wasn't really sure.

Sure, Ren was hot, there was no denying that, and she had meant it when she said that there was more to him than meets the eye and that he was different in a good way, but she had meant that mostly in the platonic sense. When it really came down to it, could she really feel romantic feelings for Ren? It was hard to tell. For most of her teenage life, she knew how other people, especially boys her age, felt about her, and she loved it. As unimpressive as her dates and prey could be, she loved the attention, heck, she took advantage of it! So the fact that Ren didn't fawn over her like most other guys did surprisingly made her feel a bit vulnerable, naked even. Here was someone who was willing and intent on judging her solely based on who she was as a person, and in a way, it terrified her. She was no saint, especially when compared to Ruby, and the fact that he was willing to judge her based on who she was instead of merely by her looks and how much fun she could be meant that whenever she messed up, she couldn't really rely on hiding behind her sex appeal like she usually could. It was just so… so… different than what she was used to.

Yang's expression slowly softened as she slowly began to stop combing her fingers through her hair. "Different, huh?" she murmured to herself.

Ren's eyes widened in surprise. "Hmm?"

Then, much to both of their surprise, she slowly turned to Ren, a light blush evident across her face, gently cupped his face into her hands… and kissed him gently on the cheek. Ren's eyes widened even further in surprise as Yang slowly pulled back from the surprise and somewhat uncharacteristic kiss she had just given him, with Yang thinking very hard over what exactly that fluttering feeling in her chest was and what it meant to her.

"It's so weird," she murmured to herself. She shook her head. "This totally isn't my style… and yet…."

She had liked it.

Yes, for some strange reason, Yang Xiao Long had given someone a chaste kiss on the cheek to someone who wasn't her father and wholeheartedly enjoyed it. Not in the same way that she enjoyed flying through the air and getting into a good fight, but in a way that was… relaxing… casual… different.

Yang slowly smiled before looking deep into Ren's eyes and asking, "Hey Ren, you know that proposal you asked of me?" Ren, having finally recovered from his shock, nodded his head in response. "Well, it depends." She brought their faces closer towards one another and quietly asked, "Are you going to make the effort to keep showing me a good time?"

Ren let out a small, surprised gasp before slowly nodding his head and answering, "I can't make any promises, but yes, I can most certainly try."

Yang let out an uncharacteristic giggle before playfully pinching one of Ren's cheeks, which earned her an amused smile from Ren, and replying, "I'll hold you to that."

* * *

Author's Note: This is a Sunflowyr one-shot... and it will definitely stay a Sunflowyr one-shot. As much I like the pairing, if I ever chose to continue this particular story, it would probably eventually turn into a Ren x Nora story, since that seems to be one of the many pairings the series seems to be hinting very heavily at. Sure, Yang and Ren would probably break up if that happened, but they'd still be chummy towards each other afterwards despite the break up, and they would appreciate the fact that they now have a deeper understanding of each other than they did before. Sunflowyr can definitely be a friendship too, don't you think? ;P


End file.
